


Double Date

by RobinWritesChirps



Category: Hatchetfield Universe - Team StarKid
Genre: Babysitting, Closeted Character, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Lesbian Character, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, Walking In On Someone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:09:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29616171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinWritesChirps/pseuds/RobinWritesChirps
Summary: Tom and Becky enjoy a well deserved Valentine's Day date leaving their many kids in Grace Chastity and Lex Foster's hands. A surprise awaits them at the end of the night...Fluffy supportive Barneston love their kids very much, which includes the babysitters.
Relationships: Becky Barnes/Tom Houston, Grace Chastity/Lex Foster
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	Double Date

**Author's Note:**

> I'm now typing at about 50 wpm from learning a new keyboard layout which is slow but tolerable so I expect I'll be able to write more soon, because I've had TONS of ideas for fics. And no, I do not particularly recommend the layout Dvorak I've just switched to this month. Not worth the effort.

Tom's list of recommendations would have been foot long if only he had jotted them down on paper for the babysitters to browse at their own leisure. What it was, though, was boring poor Grace who had made the mistake of indulging him and asking if there was anything special to keep in mind tonight. He had been talking for what felt like an hour and no matter how polite the girl was, the rest of them could well see it was high time he gave it a rest. Becky was waiting at the front door, dolled up and ready for their date, and exchanged a look with Lex on the couch. The children were already overcurious of the new babysitter and her quiet sister and Lex was buried under two of their cuddlebugs so far, but that didn't stop her from smirking at Becky and gesturing at her own wrist. Becky gladly took the hint, if Tom wouldn't.

"Tom," she said patiently, "We'll be late if we don't hurry, love."

Tom came out of his trance — his overbearing, stubborn, ever so loving trance — and glanced at his wristwatch. He frowned.

"Ah, shit," he sighed. "You're right. Okay, alright, we gotta go. Hey buddies, say bye to mommy and daddy."

Becky smiled. Goodbyes had already been exchanged a handful of times in the hope of prompting him to just leave already, but it was a litter of good kids they were bringing up and their squeaky little voices rose again to the request.

"Goodnight mommy!" They perked up. "Goodbye daddy!"

He buttoned his coat, fixed his collar.

"Lex, Grace, you'll be alright?"

Lex groaned so loud she startled Miriam who had been quietly drawing on the floor and handing over her sketches for Edith to color in much more sloppily. The poor girl sighed when she saw the large skewed line she had drawn by accident across the whole page and worked at once on incorporating it into the drawing.

"We'll be fine, Mr Houston," Lex hissed with as much niceties as she was ever capable of — not much. "We got this. They're kids, they're not atomic bombs."

On cue in perfect timing, one of the babies began to cry in the nursery where Becky had put them down in their cribs only a moment prior.

"Fuck," Tom blurted out, ignoring for once several gasps of shock among their little ones. "I bet she's poopy, we just fed them... Lex, you sure you know how to change a diaper?"

"Yeah, bleach and vinegar, right?"

Just on time to prevent the near inevitable meltdown of an overprotective dad who never took too well to sarcasm, Becky touched his arm, tugged gently. He was so anxious precisely because they were not used to leaving the children with babysitters, usually relying on his parents or having dates right at home after their bedtime. On Valentine's Day, though, the Houston men, father and son celebrated the beauty of romantic love with their spouse and Becky wanted out of the house to do just that now. Right now.

"She's just joking," Becky said, who had caught enough tidbits of Lex's family history to know that she knew her way around a baby or a child. Not long ago, her sister had been so young herself. Eleven now, the very same Hannah was sitting in an armchair, engrossed in a book Becky had offered her to pass the time while Lex and Grace entertained their seven angels. "Come, or we'll miss the movie."

Tom glared at Lex on their way out and the heavy front door slammed gloomily on all his doubts and fears. Valentine's Day was finally afoot.

They rode to the Cineplex in the Mustang and Becky felt at once its calming effect on her, the old car from when they were kids. Back then, the back seat had been a place of secrecy in whatever hidden nook he parked them in. It was car seats for the little ones now, toys on the floor and sticky stains he had missed on his religious weekly cleaning. Tom did always love to have things go according to plan and even now on their own she sensed in him the remains of tension.

"Tom, they'll be just fine..."

"Maybe we should just have waited till next week and have mom and dad watch them like usual."

"It'll be alright," she insisted. "Grace is very responsible, and Lex..."

He glanced at her with furrowed brows in the rearview mirror and Becky reached to pat his hand on the stick shift.

"Well, Lex really wants those hundred bucks," she finished and he huffed humorlessly. "And we've decided we trust her. You know even Gracie couldn't them all on her own, she'll need the help."

His eyes went back to the road ahead, but they softened a little and she felt his thumb stroke the back of her hand.

"I just hope we don't miss the movie," he sighed eventually. "It's getting late already."

"Probably just the commercials," she said. "It's okay, babe. It's gonna be okay."

She had branched him onto a new topic of focus without realizing and Tom now ranted a little about how different the movies used to be when they were kids, how things had changed, how old he felt. This was better than fretting over the kids, she told herself, and let him ramble with a nod and an occasional word of support.

They had made the choice of having a large family knowing full well how intricate the challenge of raising them. With seven children born just under seven years – Becky had wanted to curse at the monitor when the doctor twice had announced twins – there was so little time in their lives without them around that Tom hardly knew how to cope. Even she had to admit that it was a strange thought to spend all evening away from the children they were bringing up in joyful and loud chaos. Every day, they left them at school or at Tom's parents for the morning and afternoon, but after seeing the back seats of the Mustang packed with toddlers and babies so many times, they seemed to her sad and empty now. She did trust Lex and Grace to manage them just fine for one evening, though. She had to.

Tom had gotten out of his own mind by the time they had reached the theater and made a few jokes to prove it, showed her all the gallantry of a man who loved her enough to devote his life to her, to trust her to raise a family with him, who rested in her all the turmoil of his past because only she could understand it. Overpriced drinks and a popcorn tub for two, she almost felt like the girl she had been before it all, before that terrible year of Stanley Tom had broken her out of. Those pretty days were gone, the innocent part of her torn out brutally by a monster of a man, but many years of Tom had soothed the blow and she now lived mostly without letting the memories control her. Only on such days when youth came rushing back to her mind did they make an appearance again. It had been twelve years since the breakup.

"G7 and 8," she said with a smile when Tom handed her the tickets.

The room was packed as ever, all the couples of Hatchetfield out to think of love, and the romantic flick was as cheesy as Becky and Tom could have hoped for. Not that they saw it all anyways, for Becky coaxed him into a kiss about ten minutes in and on and on it went till the end credits rolled and they realized how little of the movie they had actually caught. He grinned like a quarterback again. Now was the time for something delicious.

"Well, this isn't too bad," Tom said as they sat at the table he had booked for two.

He pulled Becky's chair for her, took her coat. On her napkin, a rose he had bought from a street vendor on a whim just outside. Becky smelled its sweet perfume and smiled at her husband. More than ever on this day, she was happy to be in love with him.

"It's wonderful," she replied. "This is so much better than a date at home."

To his credit, Tom didn't catch onto the offer to fret again and did not mention the children or his anxiety for the rest of the evening. Charming as ever, he made sparse but very heartfelt replies to a conversation mostly in Becky's hands. Under the table, their feet were touching, just as their fingers on top of it brushing together every few bites. If he was still just at concerned as before about leaving their seven wonders in Lex and Grace's hands — which Becky was certain he was — he hid it well.

She was not worried, perhaps because she had less of a natural incline towards it than him. Their children were not perfect angels, of course, but they were relatively well behaved still and she was sure that the girls would be more than adequate at keeping the flock in order. Miriam and David were quiet as mice and content to be left on their own. Anna and John were at that time of life where young twins preferred each other's company to anyone else's and were only trouble when they teamed up for mischief — Becky hoped that Grace or Lex would sense the smell of rebellion and quench it before it came to that. The younger twins were only babies and content with little, simple needs for simpler lives. Only Edith was somewhat of a challenge at only three and a half but even then, she seemed to adore Lex so there was a chance the toddler would not burn the house down before they came home.

No matter how the evening was going for the children, the parents were having a time of it and the hours passed far too quickly for her taste in Tom's company. Of course, there was much to be said about Tom in dad mode and Becky never grew tired of it — so much so they had had so many children for the very reason she trusted and loved him so dearly when he took care of them. Still, Tom wasn't all dad all the time, there was much of him that was all husband and she saw glimpses of it every day before the kids caught his attention one way or another. Tonight, he was all lover, flirty as ever, and she was as seduced as if this had been a first date. So eager to get out of home, she was now longing to go back.

"You're so beautiful," Tom blurted out as Becky drove them home. He had had two glasses of wine while she had not, still feeding their babies. Next year, perhaps, though she wasn't in any hurry. "I'm so lucky."

He reached out to touch her hair where she had pinned the rose he had given her, grinning.

"You're feeling lucky tonight, Mr Houston?" She teased. "We're almost home. You just might be."

He huffed in contentment.

"We'll just be quiet," he said, "And then it'll have been a perfect night." He paused and his fingers tapped against his lap. "If the house still stands."

"A quickie in the ashes if not," she offered and made him chuckle, no longer so worried.

They stepped around to the back of the house, afraid to let the old heavy front door wake the kids and spoil the fun, but Tom caught her against him before they could set a foot inside. Trapped between him and the door, she was marvelously locked there with warm unhurried kisses. Tom held her close and breathed deep with satisfaction when their lips parted.

"You're my wife," he slurred against her ear, full of passion. His hands slid under her coat to touch bare skin at her waist. "You made us beautiful children. And I love you so much."

Becky took the kisses, soon trailing down her neck, the caress of his fingers eager to get busy yet too caught up in the moment to go to bed. Inevitably, they would have to push past the door and send the girls on their way, they would have to check that every head was accounted for and unscathed. In an old habit of sneaking around, she let him kiss her a little longer before all that.

"Moment of truth," she said in a low whisper when he pushed the door open softly.

Nothing was amiss in the kitchen, nor in the hall. No sound coming from the bedrooms upstairs and the toys had been put away. She spotted a light on in the living room, a sliver of Hannah still reading intently, and was about to turn back to Tom to check that he had the cash on him when she noticed what was going on on the other side of the room and she was suddenly stuck into place.

If Tom had told her his doubts that the girls would get along enough to handle an evening of work together earlier that night, he had doubted in vain. Lex and Grace were getting along very well indeed. Sitting next to each other on the couch, their arms and lips were interlocked and their kisses only stopped for shy smiles before leaning into one another again. They were, to her great surprise coming from Lex, as soft as could be, tender butterfly kisses rather than the fiery making out Tom and Becky themselves had left just at the door. Lex's fingers were toying with Grace's long dreadlocks past her shoulders, whose legs were resting across from Lex's lap comfortably. The picture was overall as sweet as could be and all the more so for the occasion of Valentine's Day.

"Erm..." Tom mumbled from behind and all hell unleashed.

"OH FUCK!" Lex cried.

At a speed that seemed to Becky near supernatural, the girls parted, now recluse to the opposite ends of the couch, as far as could be from one another without actually sitting on the ground. Their hands were crossed on their lap in a perfect model of innocence — but the kisses had been just that too, Becky thought. Tom was glancing between them and herself, unsure of what to say to mitigate tension. He had never been much good at that.

"We didn't do anything in front of the kids!" Lex said. "Please, Mr Houston, I swear we wouldn't..."

Hannah turned a page in her book, unbothered. Becky sat and looked at Tom.

"Mr Houston, I'd like to apologize," Grace said, who stood stiffly without so much as a glance at the girl she had been embracing so intimately a mere moment ago. "This was unprofessional and... and I wish you'd never known this and please don't tell the other teachers I'm..."

But she trailed off too, leaving poor Tom to be the judge of morality tonight. He stared at Becky helplessly before turning back to the girls and his mouth hanged open without a word for some time.

"I, erm, I chaperoned the SGA prom a few times," he said eventually. "I'm not... I mean, erm, I think it's good that... lesbians and all... Shit, I can't speak."

Grace was entirely beside herself and Lex, though blushing crimson in anger and embarrassment, softened to see her fretting so. She scooted ever so slightly closer on the couch.

"You haven't done anything wrong," Becky said, picking up where she thought Tom had left off. "We'll pay you what we agreed and you can babysit again if we ever need to and if you want, you're not in any trouble. You're safe with us. Okay?"

Lex looked at her like she was from outer space and Hannah seemed to be catching onto the awkwardness. She closed the book and left it on the coffee table, perfectly aligned with the angle of it.

"Look, I'll just give you a ride home and if you want, we can just never talk about it ag..."

" _I'll_ drive her home."

Lex had sprung to her feet and before Tom had a chance to finish, she grabbed Grace's hand on one side, Hannah's on the other, and dragged them away out of the room.

"Wait!" Tom cried out. "But I haven't even paid you yet!"

"I'll text you my Venmo!" Lex replied, already at the door. "Bye, Mr Houston, Mrs Houston, the kids were really nice, you're probably really good parents!"

"I'm so sorry," Grace reiterated one last time before the three girls disappeared behind the slam of the heavy door.

Becky waited anxiously for any of said kid to make an appearance, woken up by all the noise, but as that never happened, she relaxed into her armchair. Tom looked as lost as ever.

"If it's any consolation, I didn't know they were gay either," she said kindly. "I'm sorry they didn't get to tell us on their own terms..."

Tom sat and pinched the brink of his nose. She knew this was not an issue of prejudice, and the kisses had been so tame she doubted there would have been anything inappropriate happening even if they had come home even later. There was the awkwardness, for sure, but it would pass on both sides fairly quick if they made a point of it. She touched his knee to soothe him and Tom looked at her bewildered.

"What the fuck is a Venmo?!"


End file.
